Valentine's May Not Be So Made Up Afterall
by hogwartsalumni
Summary: It's just a little Valentine's OneShot featuring DL. Enjoy! Read and Review!


**A/N: I don't own any of the characters, just borrowing things to satisfy the stirrings of my imaginations….**

Valentine's Day sucks. I, Lindsay Monroe, have officially declared that Valentine's Day is just a made up holiday with nothing but made up folk lore and tall tales from greeting card companies to make a dollar. It's not even that I'm mad that I don't have a specific Valentine, but I would have thought that I would have gotten at least a card from my old co-workers in Montana, but nada!

Mac assigns me, a case today, telling me that it's definitely one of those days. Apparently, since it was supposed to be Danny and I but he mysteriously disappeared., However,but Mac seemed to know about it so who am I to complain?. So I'm sitting at the break room table, familiarizing myself with the file, since Flack can't meet me at the scene for another half hour due to something, I sort of dazed out when he started talking about streets and traffic and a bottle-necker. He said to make it up to me; he'll pick me up at the lab. It's better than having to fight my way through traffic. I still haven't gotten used to driving in break light city.

So anyway about the case. It's a homicide by -- get this – one of those metal crafted roses. Stabbed right through the heart…What a way to go, and on Valentine's Day, talk about love.

Once I got there and collected the evidence, the case was pretty open and shut. There was trace, transfer, prints, and every other imaginable thing there. It was a scene out of a criminalist's dream. So I get the evidence back to the lab, run everything – by myself because Danny still hadn't reappeared – and boom! We got a suspect. Called Flack, let him know it's the boyfriend, Flack says he'll call me back when he's in custody.

So I go down after Flack's call, and the boyfriend, once presented with all of the evidence against him, starts singing like a canary. Apparently the guilt of being a murderer was too much to bear. All in all, pretty open and shut, which was a good thing cause then I got a text message from Mac telling me that my reports were due. Fun.

So Flack gives me a ride back to the lab, on his way to another scene. As I get out of the car, he wishes me a Happy Valentine's Day. I smile, and wonder if it looks as fake as it feels.

I head into the building, waving goodbye to Flack as he drives off. I make my wayhead into the locker room and meet Stella, who is practically floating out the door. The smile plastered on her face makes me wonder, but I don't get to ask before she talks to me.

"Lindsay," she gushes, "Come by my desk when you get a second."

"Ok…" I tell her as I watch her leave.

I spin the combination into my lock, open the door, and throw my jacket in. Curiosity was getting to me, so I headed out the door after checking my reflection in the mirror, for Stella's desk.

I got to the place where Stella's desk was supposed to be, but instead it looked like a flower explosion. Roses, tulips, carnations, and flowers I've never seen before were all over the place. No wonder Stella was so happy.

"Did Frankie do all of this?" I asked, looking around astounded.

"Yeah," Stella said with this dreamy look on her face. "So what did you get for Valentine's Day?"

I grimaced, then hoped she wouldn't have noticed. I shrugged, but said nothing.

"Well," Stella said confidently, "the day isn't over yet."

WTF does that mean? I really wanted to ask her, but Mac chose that precise moment to come by.

"So this must be why the delivery guy was so happy." He said, gesturing to the flowers, "Apparently, he made all his deliveries for today."

Stella just laughed at him. Then he turned to me.

"Got all of those reports done Lindsay?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I was just going to finish them up Mac," I said, turning to leave, "but the scent of the flower garden distracted me."

They both started laughing, and I waved my goodbyes. Gathering things up from my desk, I headed to one of the labs that didn't happen to be in use today. It's quieter, and I have more room to spread things out than at my desk. I had just gotten all settled when I realized that I forgot something. Cursing softly under my breath, I ran back to my desk to get it, and then back to the lab. I was gone **_maybe_** a whole five minutes, but as I sit down, I notice this white envelope, in the middle of my work space, with OPEN ME LINDSAY printed on it. So I open it, and it's a Valentine's Day card, but it doesn't say who it's from.

My mind immediately jumps to Stella, with her whole cryptic "The day's not over yet" speech. I see her start to walk by the room I'm supposed to be working in.

"Hey Stella!" I call out to her.

She pops her head in the door,

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for the card." I tell her, "It's really sweet, thanks. But you could have just given it to me"

She adjusted her position so that she was now leaning on the door frame.

"I just thought it would be more Valentine-esque if I left it in your mailbox." She told me, shrugging her shoulders lightly.

I know I must be looking at her like she has three heads.

"Stella," I said slowly, like I was talking to my deaf grandfather, "You didn't leave this in my mailbox, you left it here on the table."

"Let me see that card." She said walking towards me and taking out of my outstretched hand as if it were a piece of evidence. "Lindsay this isn't my card."

An hour later, we've run every test conceivable that we could think of, and even some that weren't with nothing to show for it. Stella's phone went off.

"Sorry Linds." She told me, "This admirer you have knows how to cover his tracks."

"Thanks Stella," I told her, trying not to sound too disappointed, "It's a cute card anyway."

I made my way back to the lab where all of my information for my reports that I was supposed to be working on lay. I sit down and start to work, and there's another white envelope sitting in the middle of my stuff. It's a slightly mushier card than the first, and this one has a typed note inside:

NO, I DIDN'T LEAVE ANY TRACE ON THIS ONE EITHER

Ok, I think to myself, someone is toying with me. I set the new card aside with the old card and begin to work on my reports. I work until they are finished, and in the binders ready to be put on Mac's desk. I stand up and stretch, looking at my watch, it told me it was a little after six.

Wow, I thought, I worked for a little over three hours straight. And it wouldn't have taken so long if my damn mind would have stayed away from those freaking cards.

I picked up the binders containers and carried them to Mac's office, then returned to the empty lab to finish cleaning up my files and mess. There was another card sitting in the middle of my now straightened, neatly organized mess.

What the hell is going on here?

I opened the card and it was along the same lines as the last card, as well as another typed note:

MEET ME IN THE CENTER OF CENTRAL PARK, WEAR THE DRESS IN YOUR LOCKER…YOU'LL KNOW ME.

The dress in my locker? I'll know him? What in the hell is going on in this lab today…someone has so got to totally tighten security down around here.

I said goodnight to some of the lab techs that still lingered around running evidence on different cases.

I went into the locker room and spun the combination on the lock. I opened the door and was floored into sitting on the bench. There was a black silky looking dress, along with matching shoes, a shawl, and a handbag on the shelf.

"What in the world…" I said aloud.

Again, curiosity was getting the better of me and against my better judgment,judgment; I changed into the dress, which fit perfectly. Why do I feel like I'm being set up I wonder as I put the shoes. I wrapped the shawl around my shoulders, shut my locker door, and left the locker room.

I got out of the cab at central park at quarter to seven. What the hell am I doing I asked myself as I paid the driver and began to walk into the park.

All the way into the park, I berated myself for allowing some secret card giving admirer who happens to know my dress, and shoe size to lure me into some park where no one knows I'm going.

I stopped about a quarter of the way into my destination. Am I really this foolish? Am I really going to walk into the center of Central Park to meet someone, who I have no clue about their identity, because a couple of cards suggested it?

Hell yes.

I kept walking until I reached the center of the park. There were happy couples all around me; women carrying flowers, men holding their Valentines' close. I sat down on a bench, waiting.

Waiting…still waiting…

This was a hoax…I'm gonna hurt whoever set me up like this. I stood up and began to walk away. I'm not going to cry, but I'm upset. Whoever thought this was funny has a really freaking sick sense of humor.

"Lindsay."

I could have sworn I just heard someone call my name. I stopped to listen but I didn't turn around.

"Lindsay."

I did hear my name. I turned around and damn near fell off my feet. How could it be…

"Danny." His name rolled off my lips like taking a breath.

There he was, just standing there with a big bouquet of roses, in a tuxedo. I know that we had this flirty give and take banter, and there was **_tons_** of unresolved sexual tension between us, but I just thought the only way he would reciprocate those feelings were in my dreams.

"What are you doing?" I asked, rather dumbly I might add, "Those cards were from you?"

Then I, without warning, I started babbling.

"How did you manage…What are you doing….How did you know…" I couldn't stop myself.

He walked over to me at some point during my whole babble fest.

"Lindsay," He handed me the bouquet, "These are for you, and we have reservations for dinner." I felt him take my elbow and try to guide me to the next destination.

However, I wanted answers; I'm stubborn like that.

"Danny," I said, trying not to feel like the world was completely spinning in reverse and throwing me into outer space, "What are you doing?"

"Lindsay," Danny said, but his eyes were…pleading? Or was it fear of taking a risk? "Just trust me for now, please?"

"Ok." For some reason, trusting Danny wasn't hard.

Danny took me to a really nice restaurant, with candlelight; wine…the whole nine yards and then some. We had these amazing conversations, and the food was delicious.

Afterwards, he took me home. We stood on the steps to my apartment building, and I had to ask him.

"Danny," I asked once more, "What are you doing?"

"You want to know what I'm doing?" He repeated my question in a way that only Danny could, "I'll show you what I'm doing."

With that, he leaned in and kissed me. He kissed me. And I kissed him back. It was good, it was excellent. It was the best kiss that I have ever had in my entire life. I didn't want it to end, but the need for oxygen was burning in my lungs, and I felt Danny start to pull away.

"Good night Lindsay." He whispered softly in my ear, "Happy Valentine's Day Sweetheart."


End file.
